American Politics

[EihTooms]

Inflation Hits Four-Decade High of 9. 1%. Real GDP declined in the first quarter of 2022, and it looks like it will drop in the second quarter as well. Way to go Joe. But no worries. Mr. Clueless is on his way to Saudi Arabia to suck some cock. I am sure that will work.

Yeah, we wonder whose cock clueless Reagan was sucking when inflation was higher, the unemployment rate was skyrocketing and his not his predecessor's economic policies were dragging us into a truly Great Repub-Reagan Recession that was then worse than any economic downturn since The Great Repub Depression of the late 1920's / early 1930's.

We know he sucked Iranian cock with gusto during his second term. But it might have been Iranian cock during his first term too as thanks for that "October Surprise" of delaying the release of the last of the hostages until just minutes after his 1981 inaugural speech.

[JustTK]

Sorry, JustTK, that is not just true, and I see it every day. Most of the billionaires in our country are self made. Every day, I see people are more and more interested in pleasing the government than being productive, and that is probably why I will leave this country.

Elvis, your refutal of my comment by mention of billionaires kind of proves my point. There are 614 billionaires in USA, So 614 people have arrived at the end of the rainbow. That's a miniscule number. Whereas, the other 329,499,386 are still being fed that BS propaganda story that if you work hard you can achieve success.

Currently, the top 1% hold 32% of the wealth, whereas the bottom 50% hold just 2. 6%. That statistic alone is truly sickening and demonstrates all you need to know – the bottom 50% are being fed a lie! It wasn't always like that. The top 10% of wealth-owners, used to own 45–50% in 1913, but that fell to 30–35% in 1948. This shows the staggering funneling of money up the ladder in the USA in the last few decades.

Compare those 614 billionaires with the 37 million (11%) below the official poverty line. And this official rate has been special selected to paint a rosy picture, remember. 125 million live paycheck to paycheck. You can't just wash away these 125 million people. These are the victims of capitalism. I put it to you again, that the failures FAR< FAR< FAR outstrip the winners in the USA. It's the same in nearly every country, but it's more sickeningly exaggerated in the USA bcos it is the most corrupt.

The USA is just a big sweatshop for the rich 1%. That's why no one wants to move there, apart from the desperate.

[Axel Heyst]

Inflation Hits Four-Decade High of 9. 1%. Real GDP declined in the first quarter of 2022, and it looks like it will drop in the second quarter as well. Way to go Joe. But no worries. Mr. Clueless is on his way to Saudi Arabia to suck some cock. I am sure that will work.

[Elvis 2008]

And you also talk of your youth and history. Whch I think speaks of a USA that no longer exists. USAns, without fail, talk of meritocracy. You will succeed if you are willing to do the hard yards. I find it amazing how you have been brainwashed by that. The reality is the opposite. Pause to think and you will see it is a logical impossibilty. No matter how hard you try, there will always be more failures than successes.

Sorry, JustTK, that is not just true, and I see it every day. Most of the billionaires in our country are self made. College is more expensive now so if you get the college degree and get way into debt, it makes getting to the American dream harder. Now more women are going to college then men, but it is not a bad thing. The men want to make money, and they have figured out that going to tech schools and apprenticeships often is the way to go. Right now, the craftsman are in crazy demand. I just paid an electrician $125 an hour, and I have an ex-employee working on movie sets in Georgia making $150,000 a year, but you do not hear about that. The sad part is many who went to college are saddled with debt and would have been better off pursing a craft.

There are two things that have gotten worse though. The first is personal freedom and what I mean by that is when I was kid, I would play in the streets all night. These days if your kid is out after dark, you can expect someone to call Child Protective Services. When people were talking about freedom and Ukraine, I recalled going to Singapore and it reminded me of when I was a kid. Kids were out playing, happy, smiling, and there was no fear on the adults faces. That type of freedom is not reflected in the freedom scores the dumb Dems are pulling out with Ukraine and the war there. The irony is now I think it is very safe in the USA, maybe safer than ever, for kids to play late at night. It is just people are too paranoid to lighten up.

The second is the government has gotten too big and they cannot be reigned in. This is why I will likely leave this country. Let me give you one example: the DEA. Since the DEA was founded, there are more drugs on the street, and they are cheaper and more potent than they ever have been. So what does the DEA do? It finds a new bad guy, prescription pain drugs and doctors. What people do not know is the DEA sets a quota on the number of pills that can be sold per year. So they could have with the stroke of a pen reduced the number of pills by 2/3 in this country, which is what happened anyway, but if they did that, everyone who was on these pills and could not get them would have blamed the DEA. Instead, they do this routine where they beat the shit out of patients, doctors, pharmacies, and manufacturers and cash in by issuing fines and making seizures.

Maybe you could justify this if the number of deaths went down, but instead they skyrocketed and are now over a 100,000 people a year are dying of overdoses and once more, the DEA succeeded in getting harder and harder drugs on the street with their actions. Despite this horrible record, a record that would have shut down any business in the private sector, I guarantee you there will be a DEA with a larger budget in 20 years. Any attempt to shut them down will be met with calls that you like drugs and you want people dying of overdoses.

Government spending is now 40% of our GDP and in reality it is probably higher still, and this is what has changed. Every day, I see people are more and more interested in pleasing the government than being productive, and that is probably why I will leave this country.

[JustTK]

While you paint a picture of the USA, I think your picture is a bit skewed. But there are definitely two Americas....
But let's not mistake that the folks who cross the southern border illegally are doing so because the USA is their last hope for a decent life. .

I liked your response. I accept that I have met enough USA folk to appreciate that there are plenty of decent people in the USA. BUt the voting evidence shows that my interpretation represents a reality that is very prevalent in the USA. There is a very ugly aspect that is prominent in USA "culture". It's a vulgarity. I don't see much that immigrants should want to aspire to. As lomg as folk don't repress minorities and the rights of women, I don't think we need to worry about assimiliation. Bcos, just maybe, they will actually improve the culture, not detract from it.

[EihTooms]

Now now, stop this silliness. The true Disaster Junk POTUS has already been certified. He's known by many names but I personally like Don the Con more than others, although Mango Mussolini comes close second.

And everyone knows there can only be one. Granted, there are a few strong DJP contenders, like Dubya or Nixon or even James Buchanan for all of you, history lovers, but no one comes close enough.

The latest January 6 Violent Trump Insurrection Investigation was funny and sad. Mostly sad.

Whether it was Trump's somewhat "normal" aids he hand-picked to help him overturn a free and fair election and overthrow American Democracy so he could illegally continue to produce the worst across-the-board results of any so-called potus in history who he had to fire and replace with obvious loony and falling down drunk ones or their replacements, they all seem to agree Trump had to be dealt with like the fucking moron with the mental capacity of a 5 year old he clearly is.

Yet, being trusted classic Repubs all, indulge him and humor him they did. Naturally, all to the great detriment of America and the American people, including if not moreso to the even more fucking moronic mental midgets who ever for one second entertained the notion of supporting and voting for him or any other Repub.

[JustTK]

My father was Russian but emigrated to Iran at an early age. ... There is no question that my black and Asian friends had to deal with racist issues I did not have to but they did not let them get in their way of succeeding. I never saw race slow down a determined person in the USA. Never.

I enjoy your stories Elvis, I really do. I see you value very highly your own experiences and those of valued folk around you. I don't deny you those at all. I just don't believe your own experiences represent the masses. There is overwhelming evidence to show that your experiences are not the most common experiences in USA. And you also talk of your youth and history. Whch I think speaks of a USA that no longer exists. USAns, without fail, talk of meritocracy. You will succeed if you are willing to do the hard yards. I find it amazing how you have been brainwashed by that. The reality is the opposite. Pause to think and you will see it is a logical impossibilty. No matter how hard you try, there will always be more failures than successes.

I wonder if stats exist as to the source and detail of current immigrants to USA. How many there are, what their country of origin is, their level of education. I admit that I don't have the stats. My guess is that there has been a huge drop in immigrtnion of educated folk from developed countries. The interner has done one thing. Made it easier for everyone to access the truth. No one respects the USA any more.

[MarquisdeSade1]

I understand what most people's first thought are "are they going to assimilate, are they going to contribiute? But for me, that is not the point at all. It is simply a question of human rights. BUt let's set that aside.

Can I ask, what part of US culture do you want immigrants to respect and partake in? What great aspects of culture does the USA exhibit? I see a very conservative society, very racist, highly religious, exceptionalist, self-centered, ignorant, propagandised, dangerous gun / murder-infested society, now stripping away its own people's basic rights (whilst ignoring the rights of people from other countries), not caring about welfare and health of its own people, not providing basic needs. It's an incredibly corrupt country. Is this what you want immigrants to assimilate to?

I hear USAns complain that only "lowlife' try to immigrate. Well, for me, that's hardly surprising. I don't know anyone that wants to go live in the USA. I know plenty that want to move to Europe, Asia, South America, even Aus / Canada / NZ. And plenty of USAns that can't wait to leave. But no intelligent person would want to move to the USA. Why should they? Only a few Hollywood stars and media starlets. The only people that want to enter the USA and the desperate eople that the USA has destroyed the lives of in their own countries..

Let me guess you're one of those to figure out how to get here LMAO.

Very racist? Really LOL I'm pretty sure you're projecting again.

Those that go around calling a whole country of 330 m people very racist sounds like someone with a visceral hatred of white people, I'm just sayin.

Why do hate whitey so much JK?

[PVMonger]

First, thank you for finally acknowledging that Biden is a disaster junk POTUS. Better late than never, like rest of the Democrats. This is good progress.

Now, also thank you for acknowledging that there are dumb Democrats like you, who would still vote for this or another junk disaster Democrat candidate than voting for a better (may not be the best, but better) Republican candidate for the next POTUS. These are who I call "stupid voters" who are so delusional with their party affiliation that they forget to support candidates who are better for their own good. They would rather pay double for everything with inflation, have a terrible economy, have wars all over the world but still not support a better candidate just because that candidate is Republican. These stupid voters now acknowledged that country is in the wrong path, but still won't change their voting pattern. This is actually very sad that these people never learn, bringing down the country and world with their stupidity.

You really do crack me up. He actually said nothing of the kind but when you can't read for comprehension, you just make stuff up as you go along.

The real idiots are the poor-and-middle-class RethugliKKKan voters who keep voting red because the RethugliKKKan candidates lie to them and the RethugliKKKan voters are simply too stupid to know better. Lyndon Johnson said it best, though, when he said something like "as long as you can make the lowest-and most-ignorant white voter feel like he's better than the best black voter, you have his vote forever. " And, yes, I know that LBJ was a Democrat. But, like most RethugliKKKans, he was also a racist. I wouldn't be surprised if he was also a misogynist, a xenophobe and a homophobe, just like virtually every RethugliKKKan.

And that's what you RethugliKKKans do best. You litany of BS is legendary. "Trickle down economics", "Single-payer healthcare is a scam", "Welfare queens". "Everything Democrats do is Socialism". It doesn't really matter because the list goes on and on. Not that Democrats are much better but at least they try to do the right thing. You guys, on the other hand, are really great at playing the victim and not much else. Well, OK, you are really good at playing the racist, too. And the xenophobe. And the homophobe. And the misogynist.

Well, I take back what I said. RethugliKKKans are good at a few things. Just not actually governing 'cause that takes real work.

[Xpartan]

First, thank you for finally acknowledging that Biden is a disaster junk POTUS.

Now now, stop this silliness. The true Disaster Junk POTUS has already been certified. He's known by many names but I personally like Don the Con more than others, although Mango Mussolini comes close second.

And everyone knows there can only be one. Granted, there are a few strong DJP contenders, like Dubya or Nixon or even James Buchanan for all of you, history lovers, but no one comes close enough.

[ScatManDoo]

First, thank you for finally acknowledging that Biden is a disaster junk POTUS.

I didn't see him write that.

Was this one of your primary delusions?

Or just one of the secondary ones?

[PVMonger]

I understand what most people's first thought are "are they going to assimilate, are they going to contribiute? But for me, that is not the point at all. It is simply a question of human rights. BUt let's set that aside.

Can I ask, what part of US culture do you want immigrants to respect and partake in? What great aspects of culture does the USA exhibit? I see a very conservative society, very racist, highly religious, exceptionalist, self-centered, ignorant, propagandised, dangerous gun / murder-infested society, now stripping away its own people's basic rights (whilst ignoring the rights of people from other countries), not caring about welfare and health of its own people, not providing basic needs. It's an incredibly corrupt country. Is this what you want immigrants to assimilate to?

I hear USAns complain that only "lowlife' try to immigrate. Well, for me, that's hardly surprising. I don't know anyone that wants to go live in the USA. I know plenty that want to move to Europe, Asia, South America, even Aus / Canada / NZ. And plenty of USAns that can't wait to leave. But no intelligent person would want to move to the USA. Why should they? Only a few Hollywood stars and media starlets. The only people that want to enter the USA and the desperate eople that the USA has destroyed the lives of in their own countries.

Would love to hear what you have to say.

Every mass immigration to the USA has resulted in enclaves of like ethnic groups in large cities. In every large city there was a "little Italy" or a "Chinatown" or a "Koreatown", etc. That's where folks of similar heritage could live and speak a familiar language while trying to "make it" in an unfamiliar country. But many of their offspring, especially the ones born in the USA, fully assimilated. They spoke English as a first language although their parents might still speak in their native tongue at home.

While you paint a picture of the USA, I think your picture is a bit skewed. But there are definitely two Americas.

One is as you describe: "a very conservative society, very racist, highly religious, exceptionalist, self-centered, ignorant, propagandised, dangerous gun / murder-infested society, now stripping away its own people's basic rights (whilst ignoring the rights of people from other countries), not caring about welfare and health of its own people, not providing basic needs. " Those folks are the ones who afraid of immigration. They are the ones who attempt to make a distinction between "legacy Americans" and "immigrants". Unfortunately, they are by-and-large too ignorant to realize that if they aren't "native Americans", that they, too, are immigrants. They are the ones who are afraid that the America they know is becoming "browner". And they don't like it.

The other America is quite different. They are liberal, at least in terms thinking that what is good for every citizen is good for America. Many are socially liberal but fiscally conservative. They may be religious but religion doesn't color their whole world. They are mostly college-educated. They may or may not be "anti-gun" but certainly believe that America doesn't need 120 guns per every 100 people.

The assimilationists, though, only think of assimilation as something that white people do. Because if an immigrant is of European origin, the first generation who speaks perfectly unaccented English can certainly pass for one of their so-called "legacy Americans". But an immigrant of color, whether they're Asian, African or Latino can't (according to them) ever assimilate because they don't and can't ever pass for a "legacy American". That's why there are so many "hate crimes" happening that didn't happen before the rise of the Mango Mussolini.

But let's not mistake that the folks who cross the southern border illegally are doing so because the USA is their last hope for a decent life. They may prefer to go elsewhere but the USA is their least-expensive option. Unfortunately, the USA is not, and never will be, able to reform the immigration system or the asylum system properly. The RethugliKKKans won't do it because they're afraid of upsetting their "USA for the white man" base and Democrats won't do it because they will never have a sufficient filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.

[EihTooms]

I use the number 1 in quotations as a double entendre (use google to look for definition).

So did you write the code for this autocorrect / autowrong? Don't tell me you know everything it does and doesn't do, I want you to type see'est la vie.

https://frenchtogether.com/cest-la-vie/

That inbred made in China defective cracker is regularly trying to correct others on a whooor board LOL.

Thats like a tavern that only allows proper grammar and no profanity LOL pretty dum / stoopid if you ask me.

The lowest low life mongers trying to be pretentious on a whooor board lmao.

Thou lady projects too much me thinks.

So you're saying that you wrote the number "1" instead of the word "one" and that the auto-correct function here changed it to "one" and eliminated the quotation marks?

I wonder if the same thing happens when I do it. Hmm. Apparently not in the "Preview Report" mode.

[Elvis 2008]

I understand what most people's first thought are "are they going to assimilate, are they going to contribiute?

Can I ask, what part of US culture do you want immigrants to respect and partake in? What great aspects of culture does the USA exhibit? I see a very conservative society, very racist, highly religious, exceptionalist, self-centered, ignorant, propagandised, dangerous gun / murder-infested society, now stripping away its own people's basic rights (whilst ignoring the rights of people from other countries), not caring about welfare and health of its own people, not providing basic needs. It's an incredibly corrupt country. Is this what you want immigrants to assimilate to?

You have been watching the news too much. LOL. At its best the USA is a meritocracy, and you are judged based on performance not the color of your skin, religious views ETC. My father was Russian but emigrated to Iran at an early age. He saw the Russians (very poor and crude), the British (uptight snobs), and Americans (friendly and laid back) while helping the allies in WW2. The one act that made my father want to come to the USA was some lower ranked officer put his feet up on his commander's desk. What that shows you is that even with the military and their supposed chain of command, Americans think of themselves as equals. That is based on our forefathers view that when a state enters the Union, it does not come in as inferior but an equal. Time and again, you see the brilliance of our forefathers. Thing is they tried so many forms of government and saw which ones worked and which ones did not.

The USA is really a melting pot. My high school, and this was back in the 1980's, was a pressure cooker. The expectations were huge, and you hung with your friends to help you. In my circle of friends was a Korean, a black, several Jewish guys, one Arab, one guy from Iran, and several other white guys. We helped each other out, and when one of us succeeded, we felt like we succeeded. We would laugh about our differences and give each us other shit about it. The Jewish guys would ask me if I was going to take them hostage and I told them to have fun going to Hebrew school learning to hang people on crosses. You can do that when you feel like you are equals.

Later on, the Korean told me that there was some racism that he had to deal with when he was younger. The black guy later told me he was giving being shit by the black community for hanging around mostly white people and talking white. Romance wise, he had to deal with white women who often wanted him as a novelty rather than a person. But the idea that white people had no issues was bullshit. The white Jewish guys had stress put on them from their parents and community that was unreal. In my case, my father filled that role. I had a hard time putting my finger on what I went through until I saw Hasan Minaj's hilarious comedy special, Homecoming King. He talked about his father and conditional love. The other insight was the Greek father from My Big Fat Greek Wedding. That man too was so my dad. Whenever I dated someone my father did not like, he would act hurt and once even said, "Why are you going out with this woman? What did I do to you?" he had this incredible ability to let women know he did not like them without saying a word. At the time, I just thought that was normal behavior from a parent. Point is we all had our demons.

When you work in the USA, you have clients of all races and nationalities so if you are a racist you are not going to do well. But you are not going to do well if you only live in your own corner of the world. At work, there were two guys from Pakistan. One helped everyone he could, smiled all the time, had a joke at the ready for any occasion. He was beloved and advanced up the ladder. If he opened his own business, I am sure he would be flooded with customers. Nobody cared he was from Pakistan or a Muslim.

The other guy was religious, shy, and married. He would only hang out with his wife and did not speak much. In the end, he was an okay guy but it took years for people to be comfortable with him, and his aloofness caused anxiety. There was a feeling that a few people expressed that this guy might come in pissed off one day with a bomb strapped to his back and blow up everyone at work. Is that racist? Sure, but no one thought that about the other guy.

Thing is when you put the people into a high performance climate you see who sinks and swims, and I saw people come in from all over the world. In general, American men and yes mostly white ones were the best performers but there were stars from India, Pakistan, England, and Germany. I actually preferred foreign women to American ones. Many American women were amazing but most of the attractive ones would worm their way out of work. It was rare though for anyone coming to the USA who wanted to leave though.

If you live in a good neighborhood in the USA, there is not much crime. The planes run on time. The roads are good. With Amazon, almost any product in the world can literally be at your door step in 2 days. Point is the standard of living is through the roof. An Argentine told me the hardest thing Americans had to get used to when moving to Argentina was when the plumber said he would be there next week, it could be next month. In the USA, in general, if someone says they will be at your house on Tuesday, they will be there on Tuesday.

My dad bought some land way back when. A home was on the land and he was going to bull doze it. A church asked my father not to destroy the home. The church was sponsoring immigrants from Vietnam during and after the war and wanted to put them up in that home. I cannot tell you how many families I saw use that home as a place to settle before moving out and making it on their own. Today that relatively small city has a very active and prosperous Vietnamese community, and the church has done well too. My father thought he had a duty to help immigrants because so many people had helped him. And just like my father helped the Vietnamese immigrants, I am sure those immigrants are helping new ones. That is the American way, a way that is not talked about enough.

With racism, my black friend name got pretty much the same grades and test scores as I did. Can you imagine his reaction when he was told the tests were racist? He knew the people saying that did not do the work like he did.

I remember one Asian not liking a black kid at camp when I was 13. The black kid told the Asian that he was racist. The Asian guy lectured the black kid that he had to deal with racist shit too, and you see this stuff all the time. I finally stepped in and said, "Look, I think the problem is more you than your race so stop it."

I often saw racism used like this, as an excuse. There is no question that my black and Asian friends had to deal with racist issues I did not have to but they did not let them get in their way of succeeding. I never saw race slow down a determined person in the USA. Never.

[EihTooms]

First, thank you for finally acknowledging that Biden is a disaster junk POTUS. Better late than never, like rest of the Democrats. This is good progress.

Now, also thank you for acknowledging that there are dumb Democrats like you, who would still vote for this or another junk disaster Democrat candidate than voting for a better (may not be the best, but better) Republican candidate for the next POTUS. These are who I call "stupid voters" who are so delusional with their party affiliation that they forget to support candidates who are better for their own good. They would rather pay double for everything with inflation, have a terrible economy, have wars all over the world but still not support a better candidate just because that candidate is Republican. These stupid voters now acknowledged that country is in the wrong path, but still won't change their voting pattern. This is actually very sad that these people never learn, bringing down the country and world with their stupidity.

Stop lying. It only makes you look like a liar.

I "acknowledged" exactly none of those things you lied about.

BTW, the poll Gino got all hot, wet and excited about included an "If the election were held today" question.

Biden beat Trump.

Oh, and Harris beat DeSantis. LOL.

Each of those outcomes have turned up in a few polls lately. Also with Biden beating DeSantis.

So, as much as the polls show Americans disapproving of Biden for not solving every horrific problem produced by Trump and his Repubs yet, it is also still quite common for them to "acknowledge" that they disapprove of the Repub leaders and standard bearers even more.